April 2002

The ShootRite Sniper Challenge Hosted by Sniper's Paradise

By Jacob Gottfredson
copyright 2004 Precision Shooting Magazine

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had far reaching effects on American infrastructure. Its huge ripples scored hits on the financial and social integrity of the nation. An estimated 1.5 million American workers lost their jobs, and ethnic profiling is running its course. Some of those ripples were small, one among them tugging at the coat tails of the Sniper Challenge's roster. The Challenge has grown from approximately 28 shooters the first year to 48 the second. This year, nearly 90 shooters registered for the Third Annual Sniper Challenge. The events of September 11^th took its toll here as well, dropping the final number to 76. Several military teams suddenly had other duties. A doubling of the number of competitors each year might be a record for rifle competition growth. Photo 1 (Caption: About 80 shooters and staff man the berm and the tower at the end of the 3 days of events.) But Murphy was not through yet. Thomas Blahnik of Snipers Paradise had arranged for the shooters to stay at a hotel on South Padre Island, a resort area that would let the shooters and their families have some fun away from the range. The only approach to the island is a rather long bridge that crosses the Intercoastal Waterway. Some days prior to the match a heavily laden barge, navigating the waterway, hit one of the bridge's supporting columns in the wee hours of the morning. A significant portion of the bridge collapsed at its highest point as a result. Motorists, unaware that a section of the bridge was gone, drove off and into the water far below. It was a sad and tragic disaster. It also made the competitors scramble at the last minute to find other accommodations. Murphy continued to haunt the Challenge during the 3 days of events. Throughout my three decades of competition, I have seen weather get angry and equipment fail during many matches. What both amazes and pleases me is that the real champions seem unruffled by these inconvenient occurrences. They continue without complaint, take them in stride, and win in spite of them. Yep, you guessed it. John Cranford won again, followed closely by his partner Alan Goehring. First and second in individual honors made the run for winning team a mathematical shoe-in. Both shot well above 50% through the course. Each were faced with events that were far outside the norm, a sadistic tendency of Jacob Bynum, SP staff and match co-organizer. Todd Reynolds continued pressuring them both as he has done the previous two Challenges, taking third and staying right on their heels. In fact, Todd tied for second, and he and Alan shot the tie breaker. Todd's group was great but a bit off, putting him back to third. Better watch out next year; Todd is intense, working hard, wants to win, and his concentration is high. Photo 2 (caption: John Cranford wins his second Sniper Challenge Top Gun award in three years (he took second the odd year). The custom automatic by Infinity was donated by Steve Woods of Steven Michael Studios in Dallas. That and the ostrich covered data book held by Jacob and donated by his wife Lisa (she raises those overgrown birds) are among the bounty.) Photo 3 (caption: Alan Goehring, John Cranford's partner, captures second place, making them the team winners as well. Alan is flanked by Thomas Blahnik on the left and Jacob Bynum on the right.) Photo 4 (caption: John and Alan (Richardson, Texas Police Officers) accept the first place team award. Tactical riflescopes from Horus Vision accompanied the win.)But there are other contenders out there as well, primarily the team of Terry Cross and James Clark. Those fellows are skilled shooters, quite famous in the shooting industry, and could break Cranford's lead at any time. In fact, we all marveled at Terry's innovation in the position shooting event. Jacob had given the shooters some rules prior to the shooting the match. Terry made the most of them in the sitting and kneeling positions with his bipods. Seeing the advantage his position gave him (he cleaned the course), several other shooters followed his lead which, I am sure, helped their scores as well. Terry assumed the positions described by Jacob (who made it clear that the shooters could not use any support apart from their bodies) correctly. However, he placed the bipod legs on the toes of his shoes and lifted his toes of the ground, which met Jacob's definition. That kind of innovation in a situation where hitting the target can be a matter of life or death is exactly what the sniper should be thinking about, using every possible means to make the hit. My only problem with Terry's doing that is that I did not think of it first. I hate it when that happens, and it happens often. Photo 5 (caption: Second place team honors go to "Mr. Innovation" James Clark (left, holding the trophy) and Terry Cross, owner/operator of Kisatchie Machine Works (KMW). It appears that they have Horus Vision scopes in their hands as well.)The shooters were blessed with great weather and no ghillie suit crawl (oh thank you, Lord). The winds were a bit of a problem, however, throwing a mean switch at the shooters and varying from 6 to 16 mph hour at very short intervals. Gusts would often rise to above 20 mph. But moderately high, unstable winds were not the only problem for shooters. Some events were mind benders. In one event, the competitor had to put down a 12" Larue at 600 yards. When the steel was hit, the shooter had to immediately change to firing at four 1" black dots on paper at 25 yards. Not so terribly tough, except that the shooters were firing from a 50 foot wooden tower that swayed perceptibly in the wind and with each movement of other competitors. To make it even more stressful, the event was timed at 2 minutes max. Think about that for a moment. First the competitor must make an elevation setting of approximately 16 MOA, set the parallax, and make a wind setting. After the steel was hit, the shooter had to readjust parallax, relieve the wind setting and then go from 16 MOA to approximately 3.5 MOA to hit the dots. This required the shooter to readjust position on the tower as well for the shots on the dots that were almost straight down. Photo 6 ( Caption: FBI Special Agent Bach Melick engages one inch dots from the 50 foot tower after putting the 600 yard steel down. Agent and partner Trina Anthony looks on and mentally forms words of encouragement. But so does Bach: "Don't move, Trina, those dots are hard enough to hit as it is.")Here's another: The competitors engaged a 5" shoot-n-see at approximately 75 yards and were given 60 seconds to fire 5 rounds. Sounded like a cake walk until Jacob gave them only 60 seconds to set up and then made us fire the rifle sideways, that is, tipped 90 degrees from the vertical. The event was devised to let the shooter learn how he might engage a target from under a car, for example. It confused many shooters. The windage knob now became the vertical elevation turret and the elevation turret became the windage knob. What are the clicks? If you go down on the real elevation knob approximately 3.5 MOA and up on the windage knob approximately 5 MOA from a 100 yard zero with the .308, you've now sighted in at 100 yards if you swivel the scope 90 degrees counterclockwise. Think about the problem for a moment, and you will see why. From there, the shooter simply puts elevation on the windage knob with the same increments as before to engage targets at longer ranges. Try it. Photo 7 (caption: Bach Melick shooting the "Lie Low" event. Notice the shirt's motto: "Pain is weakness leaving the body." If that is true, I must be pretty strong. Ok, so I have two photos of Bach's back and no photos of Bach's face. That's those slick FBI Agents for you. )

So How Good Are the Best?

Uncharacteristically, Sniper's Paradise allows military, law enforcement, and civilians to compete together in their Sniper Challenge. The Challenge hosts shooters who will never know the stress of combat to compete against those who might or have. Shooters register who have little experience but are brave enough to go head to head against those who have a great deal of experience, and who are skilled shooters. Shooting against a course that is unknown until the event is approached, is the sniper's bailiwick. It is particularly difficult for the inexperienced, but even more so for the untrained. I began, out of some perverse curiosity, to examine the results from a statistical point of view. The overall mean was not good. The data showed that, on average, there were few hits out of 5 or 10 rounds required for most events when all shooters were considered. In some events it was only one hit in 10. This seems very low, and though it is, one must remember that the course was difficult to say the least. However, in some events, some individuals may have scored extremely high but equally poor in the others. Even the best among them did poorly on at least one event. For example, the 1000 yard match was not very successful due to the high, tricky winds. Even so, one of the competitors, F.M. Perry, scored 8 hits out of 10 on a 12" x 12" Larue. I for one have no idea how he did it. I obviously need to confer with and take lessons from Mr. Perry. Though some of us did not do so well, there were those who have continued to produce high scores throughout the 3 year life of the Sniper Challenge. I believe these fellows are representative of what snipers should produce under similar conditions and situations. It is also interesting to note that with the exception of Todd Reynolds who has used his .300 Win Mag all three years, they all used .308's (some competitors, by the way, used some rather hot, flat shooting rifles like the 6BR, 30-378, and 6.5x284). And when I say "they" , the top shooters, I am talking about the top 8 place finishers. All of the top 8 shooters shot at or above scores of 500 which was above 55 percent. Eight shooters also represent about 10 percent of the competitors. If one looks at all 76 shooters, the average score was 315. However, If one looks at the average score of the top 8 shooters, the average score was 550. Remember that several of these top eight were also the top shooters at the other matches as well it is no fluke that they shot well above average. John Cranford, the winner, finished with a score 610 while Alan and Todd finished a close 590 each. That, of course, represents only 1 or 2 misses less than Cranford out of about 100 rounds fired for each competitor.The three top shooters were followed by: Terry Cross 570 James Clark 550 Scott Seigmund 540 Mark Yardley 510 Ryan Hunnicutt 500I don't believe that anyone or any team has broken the 50% score barrier until this year. Competitors are certainly improving, since a total of 11 individual shooters and 6 teams did it this year. While the sniper's "One Shot, One Kill" credo exudes bravado and is a call to esprit de corps, it is hardly real. It is an unqualified statement that infers perfect results under all situations. It is what is strived for. And while this will always remain an overextension of reality, it certainly does not mean that well trained, skilled snipers cannot pull off what seems to be impossible shots. I have watched them do it time and time again. It is awe inspiring to see what these fellows can do with a simple rifle in .308 caliber. They work their rifles like Van Clyburn plays his piano. While I might seem to be putting these shooters down with statistics, that is certainly not the case. In fact, shooting in the 60% range on this course is like shooting in the 60's in pro golf. I was interested in the top 8 shooter's equipment. Thought you would be too. Here it is. John Cranford:  Custom built .308 by Texas Brigade Armory (their M40A3 designation), Rem 700 action, McMillan A3 stock, Rem trigger, Leupold VariX III 4.5-14x40mm, Hart barrel, Federal Match ammo in 168gr out to 600 yds and 175gr out to 1000.

Alan Goehring: .308 built by HS Precision , Rem 700 action, HS Precision stock, Rem 700 trigger, and HS Precision barrel, Leupold Mk IV 10X scope, Federal Match ammo in 168gr out to 600 yds and 175gr out to 1000.John's rifle is his personal rifle that he uses for both duty and competition use.  "No point switching rifles if that's the equipment you're going to use in a crisis."  Alan's rifle is Department owned.  One of the first HS rifles their department bought about 10 years ago, and it is still going strong. Photo 8 (caption. Alan Goehring shooting the tie breaker against Todd Reynolds. My favorite photo of the match a picture of concentration and form.)

Photo 9 (caption. John Cranford and Alan Goehring, Richardson, Tx Police Officers, shooting the position event at 12" steel Larue's at 500 yards. They blew us away. Unfortunately for this team, not all the competitors could get through the match before dark. The match was started over the next day with 9" steel at 300 yards. This time the second place team finishers, James Clark and Terry Cross, dominated.)

Todd Reynolds M40A4, McMillan stock, Rem 700 action, Jewell Trigger, Hart barrel, Leupold Vari X III 6-20x50mm, Vais Muzzle brake, reloaded .300 Winchester Magnum ammo, 190 grain Sierra BT. Rifle was built by Mike Lau. Jim Clark:  Totally remachined and trued Remington 700 action, McMillan A-3 stock, rebuilt factory trigger, Burris 4-16 Black Diamond scope, modified NightForce mounts, Krieger 24" Heavy Palma barrel with 1-11" twist, Federal GM308M factory ammo with 168gr Sierra MK.

Terry Cross:  Totally remachined and trued Remington 700 action, McMillan
SR-90 stock, rebuilt factory trigger, Nightforce NXS Scope, modified Nightforce mounts, Obermeyer 24" Heavy Palma barrel with 1-11" twist, Handloaded ammo (43.3gr Varget / 175 Sierra MK / Fed brass / 210M primer).

Both Jim and Terry's rifles were custom smithed by KMW-Long Range Solutions which is owned and operated by Terry Cross.  Photo 10 (caption: Jim Clark and Terry Cross dominate the position shooting event on the last day.) Scott Seigmund .. .308 Accuracy International all the way. I make the assumption that he used a Schmidt and Bender scope (I could be wrong). I do not know his ammo. Mark Yardley: Action, barrel, and trigger are stock Remington 700, Leupold 6.5-20 mil dot scope, Hornaday TAP 168grain 308 ammo. 

Ryan Hunnicutt:   .308 caliber Remington 700 VS, stock rifle except it has been put in an H-S Precision stock.  The rifle is not bedded.  Leupold 4.5-14x40mm tactical with USMC mil dots, standard Leupold rings and bases, Federal Gold Medal Match 168 grain.

What can we conclude from all of this? Is it their equipment that makes them do well? Partly. Is it the cartridge? Probably not. They competed against better cartridges and still won. Was it luck? Probably a little. But they have done well every time. There was nothing exceptional about their scopes or triggers (although Todd used a Jewell). Several did, however, use match grade barrels from good barrel makers. Most used Match ammo from Federal. The overriding factor is their skill. It is my opinion that they would have performed at this level regardless of the caliber, scope, trigger, or stock, given that the equipment was within reason and given that these shooters had time to familiarize themselves with that equipment. It takes a skilled shooter to perform at this level with a .308. Although it is a fine cartridge, it takes a great deal of knowledge about its anything-but-flat trajectory and poor wind bucking ability to shoot as these fellows did. I know that if they had traded equipment with me, the places relative to mine would have remained the same. And that would go for most of us. As Ryan Hunnicutt's sniper instructor put it, "It ain't what you got, it's what you do with it."On the other hand, the rifle does have to be able to group in the 1 MOA or less category. Without that the "dot drills", "know your limitation", "night shoots", etc would not turn out so well. You can't do poorly or zero very many events and still be in the top 10%.It is also interesting to note that the top 8 shooters consisted of 3 civilians and 5 police officers. And again, 7 of the 8 top shooters shot .308 caliber rifles. I have no idea why, but the Rangers showed up with two old worn out wagon wheel axles to shoot between four troops. The Sgt. in charge (who did not intend to shoot) was goaded into action so that some single shooter had a partner. SFC James Lemon had to borrow a rifle and try to sight it in. I believe he was a bit handicapped from the outset. So was his team.

Photo 11 (caption: The Rangers. From left to right: SPC. Richard De La Garza, SGT. Jason Edgley, SFC. James Lemon III, SGT. Jesse Arguello, and SPC Matthew Hinck of the HHC, 3/187 Infantry Scouts, 101^st Airborne, Air Assault.)

The Side Match

Some months ago I wrote an article about a new reticle system being sold by Horus Vision. In an effort to prove that his reticle system is the fastest to acquire and hit targets at varying distances, Dennis Sammut of Horus Vision (PS advertiser) put up $2,500, knowing that most competitors were shooting mil dots or other types of reticles. He also knew that James Anthony had been testing his reticle system for some months. Dennis obviously hoped that James would win. Placing well in this contest would have given the reticle system high marks and good publicity. Winning it would be even better.Most if not all of the 76 competitors tried their hand at the match, which consisted of shooting 12 inch Larue steel targets first at 800 yards, then 400, then 700, then 500, then 600 yards. Only 2 competitors hit all the steel under the time limit. James Anthony and Fermin Garza were only a second or so apart. It was quite amazing to see this done. James proved the system, certainly but Fermin's performance using a mil dot system was also an amazing achievement. The rest of the competitors roared their approval after each of James' and Fermin's accomplishments. Photo 12 (caption: James Anthony smiles as he accepts 25 crisp, one hundred dollar bills (courtesy of Horus Vision) from Jacob Bynum, as long time Army sniper veteran and Sniper Paradise's Director, Thomas Blahnik, looks on.)James swears by the system, and after months of using it can accomplish some amazing feats. For example, he can acquire and hit 10 targets spread throughout a field at varying distances from 200 to 700 yards in 24 seconds. That seems almost impossible to me, yet he has been timed doing it several times and just returned from Fort Benning where he did it under the clock for the Army. To this rifleman ( me) that is beauty in motion. (Horus Vision LLC, 659 Huntington Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066. (602) 997-5370)

The SP Staff and the Sponsors

With odds that seemed insurmountable, Jacob, Thomas, and Jacob's father, Henry ran this match. In my mind it was an impossible feat that they made happen. I'm glad all I had to do was shoot and take photos and notes. By the end of the match these poor fellows were absolutely frazzled. My hat is off to the 3 of them and thanks for a great match! Jacob and Thomas' wives, Lisa and Charlie, took care of a lot of the administrative functions and dressed up the whole affair with their charm. A big thanks to them as well!Competitors were registered from Louisiana, New York, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, California, Nevada, Arizona, Connecticut, Colorado, New Mexico, Canada, Tennessee, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Texas. Once again, great sponsors came forward. Some fantastic prizes were donated and appreciated by their happy recipients. They were all generous, some extraordinarily so. And again, I would list them all, but the list is too long. I invite you to peruse Sniper Paradise's web page for this and other statistics about the match. I do have a comment about one of the door prizes however. Officer Fred Riojas won the MonoLoc Generation III + night vision equipment. I showed up at a deer lease last weekend and unexpectedly Fred was there. After hunting all day, we returned to camp and cleaned our deer after dark. That chore completed, Fred brought his prize out for all to see. I literally could not believe my eyes. What I would have given to have such an instrument on a mission 30 years ago! I walked around in the jungle absolutely blind. It was so dark you had great difficultly seeing your own hand, let alone the fellow in front of you. It was not uncommon to wonder off to the left when the fellow in front of you went to the right. We would find decaying plant matter on the trail that glowed phosphorescent as it decayed and put them in the back of our floppy hats so the guy behind could keep track of the guy in front. But with the MonoLoc devise that Fred won, I could see detail almost like it was daylight. And I mean detail not mottled, run together green stuff. It is indeed a strange experience to look into the pitch black of night and see absolutely nothing in front of you and then look through the MonoLoc and see everything with clarity. The match relied, to a large extent, on Larue targets again this year, and as always they worked flawlessly and helped keep the match moving quickly. Photo 13 (Caption: Without a doubt, the team of Todd Reynolds and Brian Robison brought the lovely April Gresham as their diversionary tactic. Why do I get the feeling that she is thinking. "That old feller is going to fall off that tower if he leans out any farther cool." April says she is thinking of taking up the game next year. Glad to have you, April.) For additional information, photos, and stats, please take a look at Sniper's Paradise website given below. Sniper's Paradise is moving the 2002 Challenge match to Tac-Pro Shooting Center near the Dallas, Tx area. Jacob Bynum will be hosting a competition at the end of May as well. Look forward to more information about these matches on the Sniper's Paradise web site. And by the way, Jacob Bynum is the principal of a new training facility: Rifles Only.

Sniper's Paradise

Thomas Blahnik & Jacob BynumRoute
27624 Roberta Rd
San Benito, TX 78586
956-361-3252
email: email@snipersparadise.com
web: http://www.snipersparadise.com

Larue Mechanized Silhouettes

Austin Precision Products

512-259-1585